


A Sense of Mercy

by Sarifel-Corrisafid-Ilxhel (Sarifel)



Category: Animorphs - Katherine A. Applegate
Genre: Canon characters mentioned - Freeform, David is still a rat, Gen, Mentions of Violence, Slice of Life, Tags will be added as the story is updated, Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-17
Updated: 2018-11-17
Packaged: 2019-08-25 03:38:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16653562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sarifel/pseuds/Sarifel-Corrisafid-Ilxhel
Summary: Rachel has a secret, and it's not the one you're thinking of. Sure, she can turn into animals and is fighting a war against a secret alien invasion. That's a pretty important secret. But she has another- A small, fuzzy rat that once begged her to kill him. A boy she trapped in morph named David.





	A Sense of Mercy

<This is it, huh?>

The girl flinched as the little rat reared up and pressed it’s paws against the side of the glass box, nose twitching curiously as it stared at her with bright black eyes. 

“Yeah.” Rachel couldn’t suppress a bitter groan. “The Yeerks know we’re human. Or, they will know. They were running this stupid blood bank, testing the...” Her stomach turned for a moment. “Testing the DNA we left behind at all the battles and looking for matches to humans in the area. They found a match, and all they need now is time.” She wanted to scream. To punch someone, to break something! It wasn’t fair! How was their human DNA even in the animal blood and body parts they left behind?!

<Sounds like your luck finally ran out. So, who’d they get the match on?> The rat rocked back on its haunches and brushed over its head quickly before straightening it’s whiskers. <Marco? I bet it was Marco.>

Rachel groaned and rocked back against the painted concrete wall where she sat and glanced up at the open window she had climbed in through before a bitter smile crossed her lips. “No. Tobias. They had been watching his mother, or something...”

 

The elementary school never noticed an additional rat living in the 3rd Grade science class terrarium, and they never noticed Rachel sneaking in after hours to say hi. The other Animorphs never noticed it either- She’d say she was helping Jordan with practicing for gymnastics or something, and sure, she did do that. But it was only part of the truth.

The truth was, Rachel wasn’t taking care of just one Animorph trapped in morph, but two. After everything with Crayak, after seeing how broken David had become, something had to be done. And if there was anything she could do to prove to herself that she was still human, anything she could do to spite Crayak and the Drode and prove them wrong, it was this. The risks didn’t matter. To save both of them, Rachel had to do this. David couldn’t go back to being alone.

But she couldn’t keep him at home, either. Tobias visited regularly, and if there’s one thing a hawk would notice, it’s a rat. 

 

Rachel gave a slight, bitter smile as she watched David. “How about you, though? Keeping out of trouble?”

<Nah, that’s boring. Sneaking out is easy, and those mouse traps they put down are nothing. I’ve been whispering answers to the kids as well, and earlier today I snuck into the teacher’s purse and ate all her chocolates.> He paused. <I’m kidding about the chocolate of course. Pretty sure I’d get poisoned.>

Rachel laughed. “So it’s going about as well as we expected then.”

<Pretty much? The kids keep calling me Chestnut. I’m not even brown!> David was amused, though. <This is better than the island, no contest. There’s food. There’s people, even if I can’t talk to them that much. Watching the lessons feels like  _ something _ of a normal life, and sometimes they leave the TV on in the teacher’s lounge so I go watch that when no one is around. And the other rat in here doesn’t bite or claw at me, so that’s good.>

“Yeah, that’s good...” 

 

David cocked his head as an uncomfortable silence stretched between them. <It might be awhile before you can come back, huh?>

Rachel nodded slightly, pulling her legs against her chest and resting her chin on them. “Yeah...tomorrow we’re evacuating our parents. Jake wanted to wait...” She frowned. “I don’t know why. We’d always said that when this day came, we’d move as fast as we could. Now he’s hesitating. I guess he wants one more night of ‘normal’.” The word felt like something foreign in her mouth. How long had it been since their lives were normal? Two years? Three?

They were silent for a moment before David spoke up again, quietly. <I understand. Believe me, I do. I haven’t seen my mom and dad in...how long has it been?>

Rachel’s stomach turned. “I don’t know. I’m sorry.” Was she apologizing for trapping him in morph? No. Certainly not- He deserved that after everything he’d done. Was she apologizing for not being able to give the fact the respect it deserved? Maybe.

<I get it. Really.> David’s voice brightened. <I wouldn’t have cared about me either. I didn’t, for a bit.>

Rachel didn’t respond to that. She couldn’t. She didn’t want to think that she was an uncaring monster, but sometimes it seemed like everybody else did. Here she was, trying to prove to herself that she wasn’t the animal everyone was afraid of, and she was being reminded that she hadn’t exactly given anybody a reason to think differently.

 

David spoke up firmly. <Hey. Stop that moping right now. You start crying, I’m going to get emotional, and nobody wants to see a rat get emotional. It’s embarrassing!>

Rachel looked up briefly, and David continued. <Look, I might not be the right person to say this, but you’re doing a good job. All of you. You’ve held on this long, and...who knows, you get your parents to safety, maybe you can hold on longer.> He laughed. <I didn’t even last a week.>

“You went through a lot more than us. It’s hard to blame you for snapping.”

<Bull. I spent most of that time fighting you, not the Yeerks. The Yeerks took my parents. The Yeerks ruined my life. You guys were fighting a war, but you still took the time out to try to help...I mean, I guess you didn’t know how to help, but you tried. Then I...> He sniffed. <Well, I was a monster. You know that me then would have killed me now without a second thought?>

Rachel didn’t know how to respond to that. 

<Hey!> David scurried closer in his terrarium and pressed his nose into the corner as he watched Rachel. <I know you think you’re a monster. Maybe you are. But monsters can be cool too. Frankenstein’s Monster? Wolfman? Dracula? Last I checked, people loved them.>

Rachel couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity of it. “I’m not Dracula!”

<Nah, you’re definitely more Wolfman. Anyways...hey, how much longer are you going to be here?>

“I don’t know.” Rachel frowned. “I’ve got to take care of my sisters tonight, and...Tobias might swing by.” Or he might not. Odds are he was watching his mother. “Why?”

<Well, if you’re gonna be a while, I’d like to hear a little about what you’ve been up to. How much Yeerk butt did you kick? Whatever happened to that world summit thing?>

Rachel cocked an eyebrow. “Are you really sure you want to hear about all that?”

<Well unless you’re going to write a book, that’s the only way I’m gonna know.> He brushed his nose. <So go on! What’s the mighty Rachel been up to?>

Rachel gave a bitter laugh again. Yeah, she could probably tell him. What would she be hiding from the Yeerks now that they knew who she was? So they talked, just two people trying to prove they aren’t monsters, until Rachel had to go home. She promised she’d try to come back another time.

 

David still wasn’t sure what to make of it, as he burrowed into the soft woodchips at the bottom of the tank after she left. Sure, he had something again. The kids adored him. He could watch the teacher, overhear the lessons, learn something again. He had food, water, shelter... did he deserve any of this, he wondered? Was a life as a fat, contented class pet too good for him?

Maybe, he thought. Maybe. But even monsters have a sense of mercy.  


End file.
